Opening Reception

Saturday, May 4th

featuring

The Small Dog Jazz Society

Live music and swing dancing

 Seth Harris

Jazz at the Django

Seth Harris has had a lifelong fascination with science, mathematics, and engineering. It's how he views the world and it's what informs his art. On the surface, that almost doesn’t make sense as the products of such rigid concepts don’t necessarily lend themselves to being the aesthetically pleasing. However, Harris feels that bringing beauty into the world that is scientific in its nature is his role as an artist. It’s the reason that people are passionate about historic buildings and classical art. Artists are able to create beautiful things through observation and a careful control. Harris takes this even further todayby recognizing something that appeals to him and finding an understanding about what makes it so satisfying. His artwork is a series of experiments that test his theories of beauty.

Where Seth differs from many artists of the past is that he is not trying to show idealized conventional beauty. He believes it’s important to tell a human story that is relatable. He accomplishes this by regularly portraying friends and relatives who he knows well enough to highlight their strengths and vulnerabilities. The process of painting feels like a conversation. He finds that he often prefers to paint people who are kind. They are the most beautiful people and welcome presence in his studio.

For many years, Seth avoided oil painting because he’s red/green colorblind. At that time, he worked with charcoal or watercolors because he could have some level of assurance in what color was going where. With oils, the opacity of the paint would cover over the pigment already on the canvas and he could never be certain how it would look to a non-colorblind person. Then in 2005, Seth developed a technique that would only use half of the color spectrum. Essentially, he limited his palette to black, white, yellow, red and most people didn’t notice. His oil paintings have no green, blue, or purple and most viewers do not notice their absence. In fact, it helps give his paintings a dreamlike quality.

Seth draws on techniques that have centuries of practice but with a strong focus on thorough preparation. He tends to spend weeks or even months composing a piece before he starts painting or drawing. He will take thousands of photographs, create elaborate drawings and mock-ups, and then meticulously revise everything. This preparation is what gives him confidence in his work.

His focus on engineering, math, and science guides his practice structurally but he believes that the best art speaks to the moments of beauty in the human experience. Seth's goal is to show these moments in a way that is relatable and timeless.

Seth Harris was born in 1983 in Annapolis Maryland. In 2005 he received a bachelor’s degree in Naval Architecture from New York Maritime and began working mostly on oil tankers. He eventually gained the license of Chief Engineer while he also developed his skills as an illustrator and painter. In 2010 he stopped shipping and came to work on land full time. That year he co-authored and illustrated the children’s picture book Wings of Glory. His latest book, “Jurassic Brunch”, is available in paperback and digital versions. The Mermaids of North America is a series of watercolor paintings that have shown at several art houses and galleries in New York City. He has won several awards for his most recent oil paintings of dancers. He is an exhibiting artist member at the The National Art League and is the Chairman of the Admissions Committee at the Salmagundi Club, where he is also an artist member. He co-organizes the award winning Findyhoppers, a swing dance performance group. His artwork and woodwork has been the focus of several viral reels on instagram where he is known as @brooklynseth